I'm pretty sure that -tan is mostly used in entertainment (anime, etc.) to impart a childish feeling -- I don't know if many actual children use -tan in real life (aside from if they are intentionally copying some anime). I could be wrong, though.

Well, it's not like they tell you to get out or anything but there was a big conversation about it a while back. It may still be in the "Why do you want to learn Japanese?" thread.

I just noticed a bit of frowning upon people who say "I like Anime/Games/Manga so I want to learn Japanese". I can kind of see why they would frown on that, if that's all you like it's a shallow view of Japan/the Japanese culture, but it's also a gateway to becoming interested in the language and everything else about the country.

Anyway I'm kind of hijacking the thread. To make it short: Yeah there are a lot of people who say they want to know Japanese so they can yell "Super Dragon Punch!!!" from the rooftops in Japanese, but there's also a lot of people who legitimately want to learn the language and also enjoy Anime or whatever else.

Well, it's not like they tell you to get out or anything but there was a big conversation about it a while back. It may still be in the "Why do you want to learn Japanese?" thread.

I just noticed a bit of frowning upon people who say "I like Anime/Games/Manga so I want to learn Japanese". I can kind of see why they would frown on that, if that's all you like it's a shallow view of Japan/the Japanese culture, but it's also a gateway to becoming interested in the language and everything else about the country.

Anyway I'm kind of hijacking the thread. To make it short: Yeah there are a lot of people who say they want to know Japanese so they can yell "Super Dragon Punch!!!" from the rooftops in Japanese, but there's also a lot of people who legitimately want to learn the language and also enjoy Anime or whatever else.

Hope that makes sense.

In general, we try to withold judgement of a person here until they either request it, or their actions specifically call for it.

[bad movie reference]
And, yes, you should watch out for TSA/airport security when making that type of post.[/bad movie reference]